Outfit Number Three

3/100 is this gorgeously light and summery Built By Wendy/Me top! It's made from vintage fair 2007 material (approx 4 metres for $10, and the first outfit cut can be found here.) and contrasted with quilters fabric white cotton.

Here it is!!!:::




Important deets from me to remember: It's size 10, Built by Wendy Simplicity 3964, and instead of doing the facing on the yoke and centre insert, I felt the white cotton was thick enough for summer with just one layer. Yay!

So 3 outta 100 outfits done! Doesn't seem like much hey? But I'm extremely positive I'll get them done, perhaps by the end of summer, but I'm planning a big sew off this week (on hols at last!) so we'll see!

xoxo

Outfit Number Two

Here's my top from Built by Wendy/You:




It's size 12, made from leftover dress floral material, and secondhand black lawn cotton. This is exactly from the pattern, as it was my first cut (I'm making another one, size 10 now, and altering it a bit, will post later)... so I'm pretty happy with it. Especially how there's no notions at all, makes for a pretty cheap top.

V. excited as it's my last day before Christmas Hols today - Yippee! Next year I'm starting at 5.30am instead of 10am, so yesterday at work I did a practice run of the work hours and it was just SO good! I worked really hard when no one was there, then mucked a little but left at 1pm! Then we looked at 2 houses, Mr Veronica got his haircut and I went to some fabric stores with 25% off! ANDDD I went to a personal trainer class! Then I started another top for my friend. CRAZY!

I'll give this red top to my friend who's expecting, she moves state soon to have her baby, and will prob get a few wears out of it with the bump, but it's a nice light easy going top to wear when racing around town with a new bub! YAY!

Starting Outfit Number TWO

Hey again!

I'm making the built by wendy/you pattern I featured in a previous post with some light cotton fabrics, the first a great black and red floral material and then just a simple black cotton stuff for the contrasting fabric, so the floral will be the bottom part and the black the cutey sleeves and the v shaped front! Exciting stuff!

So pretty much this is 'undercontruction':



I got a few orders after I wore my blue dress (also featured below) to work, and I told my friend about the top/dress pattern, so am making a test outfit for her (she loved the blue material - so if the test outfit fits, I'll make one up for her in the blue stuff!). I'm soldiering on quite well in my 100 outfit quest, so am quite pleased, as it's not even holidays yet and am still fitting the sewing time in!

WOO! Outfit Number 1

OK PALS!

I'm pretty excited! I started this dress this morning, got caught up in the moment and was a bit late to work! But after work got some energy from a fabbo dinner care of Women's Weekly online recipes and FINISHED it off! What do you think???




It's a vintage Simplicity Pattern, purchased from an op shop and is number 8832 'jiffy dress'. I added sleeves from a misplaced pattern (aren't op shops just great, buy a pattern and find other ladies handwritten instructions and heaps of lost pattern pieces!) and viola! A jiffy dress with cutie pockets and lovely bell sleeves. The material is cotton and I got it for $10 from the Vintage Fair in Canterbury I mentioned the other day. There's enough material left over for a top.

The only thing I forgot to do was sew the darts on the shoulder back piece, but it still sits ok. AND... I just had a look closer at the material patterning and the trees are a little bit more detailed on the inside - but before I cut it, I folded it properly from those little holes on the edging (someone please explain this better) which indicates the wrong and right side of the material... but the print is so bold on both sides so it doesn't really matter!

Wow, and phew. So I've completed outfit number 1 in my 100 outfit goals!

100 Dresses cont.

I just sorted out my pattern pieces and got some ideas to start my 100 outfits. After a think today I prob could do 100 outfits as I can make some tops and some jacket/vests as well as dresses, so there's a pretty good range of mix and match!

The first style was easy as I got this Built By Wendy/You pattern quite cheap last week in Melbs:



I'm yet to sew it, but it looks so easy to do! I saw a few girls at style mob wearing Built by Wendy clothes, so I googled, found the online shop and saw that she makes patterns, but it wasn't until I was looking through Simplicity Patterns the other day when I saw them to buy here in Australia!

So, step one in my "Veronica Darling 100 Outfits" marathon is done! I have roughly 15 patterns that are very straightforward to make (ie hardly any zippers, inexpensive to put together AND simple for a big run AND alterable to make my own style). Most patterns I fix up or twiddle with, so the finished product will all be Veronica Darling flaired in a way. AND, as most of my material stash is vintage, all pieces will be a 'one of a kind'.

Awesome!

The Way We Wear

Hey pals,

My pals Dan and Bec drove me out to the Vintage Fair in Canterbury Racecourse recently and we picked up a few things, but a stall holder told us about The Way We Wear Fairs that are on and that they are perfect for a bargain! Whilst the vintage fair was good, it was very antique-like and my thrifty-ness gets a hold of me and I just cannot buy things that are too pricey. But apparently the WWW Fairs are just great! I emailed them and will find out when they're on in Sydders for 2008 - but there's other cities involved too - so check them out if you're interstate!

Then my pal Dan saw these darling clothes online - Mooka Kinney - a gorgeous collection from the States:



What great fabrics and designs! She said they reminded her of some of the clothes I've been making recently, and thought 'Wow! That's so cool!' as they are just great and very good tailoringlike!

I've been thinking about setting myself a goal of 100 dresses this summer, and I need a massive kick to get into sewing full on and as I've got some holidays coming up (only 1 and 1/2 weeks of work left!), I thought I need some sort of great gigantic number to start sewing. I have heaps of material ready to go, I have heaps of patterns and styles and I have this blog to motivate me - so why the hell not!??? And then what I don't sell around town I can post to etsy, and perhaps peeps will like them there!

In the past few months I've made 2 dresses for Splendour, 1 red dress, 1 shirt for husbie, 2 flippy dresses (shiny black one and my winter sailer suit), a daggy black shirt and and and... (thinking hard) 1 dress I haven't finished (vintage pattern turned into a size 12 when I thought it was an 8) ANDDDDD tailored a few trousers and what not for friends. I've refashioned a bikini top too for a pal!

So a big goal of 100 dresses for summer should be ok! Plus I'd like to make a whole bunch as the girls from work seem interested in what I do and then I could have a market before Christmas for them to check out!

Yeah Yeah Yeah, all talk! We'll see!

Cutie little character material

Just been clicking around for a while, and how fracking cute is this piece of material and the rest of the shop!??????



So cute!!! The shop's called Nuno Plus and just so cute I can't believe it!

Not being a quilter AT ALL, I'm confused with lingo. Fat Quarters yardage blah blah blah, luckily this Nuno Plus site lists the cms as well for us Aussies. Lingo reminds me that I am not a skilled seamstress AT ALLLLLL and should get some training some time. My bestie did promise me some birthday money to go to either a new machine or a session of classes, but I've never taken him up on it! Perhaps next year!

House Hunting!

As most our weekends are taken up with looking for houses at the moment, check out my arty-ness while hanging out for the digs to open up!




But mostly I wanted to show this great jacket I saw through Wardrobe Refashion:



It's Gloriana at A Mingled Yarn and love her jacket! She's been watching Project Runway! The 4th Season has just started in the US, so hopefully it'll be on cable soon!

So fingers crossed I get an email for the Wardrobe Refashion, I rarely buy new things, but I REALLY wanna be part of a gang and get blogging like everyone else! Sign ups are on at the moment, but I've missed out a few times, not sure why, but I'm sure Nikki Shell is very busy managing the site as it's grown so much even in six months!

xoxo

Red Frock!

I got around to finishing this red dress:



It's just ordinary red cotton material, but it's from a pattern that is an old vogue 50s style, but 'revisited' as new - just bought from Spotty. It's just so lovely and light for summer, but my bust is just too crazy for it! It's got lovely darts here and there, but I couldn't work out how to alter it for my bust, so I took it to work and a lovely girl bought it from me for $20! She looked great in it and got heaps of compliments, so I'm happy it's being worn! She wore it with a gorgeous belt and boots! Nice one! I'll have to get my thinking cap on to make another one that's more my size!

OMG TAGGED THREE TIMES!

I have been SO busy! Mostly work, but we've started looking to buy a house, and it's taking up all my nerdy internerdy time! CRAZY!

So, I was tagged yonks ago by Anna Laura and more recently by Summer Pickles and even cutie Pink Milk.

My prob will be finding the new peeps to tag... hmmmm

First the rules:

A. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.

B. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog....so off we go!!!

FACTS SLASH HABITS

1. As it was Summer Pickles who recently tagged me and she just got a DOG, I'll tell you that my favourite dogs are Staffordshire Bull Terriers, the beautiful black ones. We had one called Ziggy and she was my favourite pet of all time. I believe that when I meet other Staffies on the street, they know that I was friends with Ziggy and they are always really nice to me because of her.




2. I wrote my Honours thesis on David Lynch and hypertext theory. It was very 2001, and very bad, however I still got a pretty cool mark. For at least 2 years after I finished it, I had anxiety pangs because of how hard it was to write linearly as I found out through university that I am completely non linear and totally bad at academic work. TWO years of thesis anxiety after I finished it! A while after I met a young man who was writing his thesis on penguins on Phillip Island and I realised 'who cares' about my dumb thesis. But I still love David Lynch completely.



3. I love karaoke and most things Japanese actually, but karaoke above all. In 1994 I went to Japan on the regular school trip and sang karaoke for the first time in a room with friends and it was so weird but AMAZING! My main 'hit song' is 'I Will Survive' by Gloria Gaynor - it is a total party winner surprisingly. But last time I sang 'If I Could Turn Back Time' by Cher and everyone said that was the new showstopper. Hmmm? I also love sushi and cherry blossoms and most stuff japanesey!



4. I'm really good at life drawing I reckon! I really like form and curves, so women were my fave to draw. I never have time for classes, and am too boring to draw in my own time, but I'd like to imagine myself drawing and sketching clothes in the future to help my sewing. Hence my love of Project Runway.



5. A running joke with my friends is Anastasia Salamastrakis, she was our fave tv journalist when we were growing up, as she was only on regional news and had the coolest name we'd ever heard. You can read a sad tale that the ABC reported on in 2005, because I couldn't find a picture of her! Anyways, the story goes: One friend's dad would test you on how her name was spelt, and we'd just say her name a lot at high school, but when I travelled overseas I would tell people my name was Anastasia Salamastrakis so they'd leave me alone (hey I was a young blonde Aussie who got hassled a LOT!) and perhaps she's my inspiration in working in radio. Or maybe not!

6. I love Morrissey, and love his hair and his eyebrows. And of course I love mostly all of his songs (with the Smiths as well) even the daggy ones like Girlfriend in a Coma.



I have loads of facts and stories about Morrissey and I, but more recently I met the man who photographed Viva Hate (below) and I gushed! Better than meeting Morrissey himself as it was this first album I'd bought of Morrissey's and I sang it over and over and over to myself when I was little - perhaps I was 14?



7. Almost finished! Are you bored yet? I've never been to New York City but have watched mostly all of Woody Allen's back catalogue so I just know it's MY KINDA TOWN! We're going to move there soon enough!



8. I used to be addicted to The Sims, but had to take it off the computer as my own life was going down the BORING drain! My fave characters were Minka and Scotia and they got married and adopted a baby. Once or twice I was bad and they pee-ed their pants, but I never killed any of my Sims. My brothers's Sim characters died of starvation - the horror! I also used to talk like the sims to my flat mates - when you leave the house you say "su su!" NERDY!



AND YOUR TAGGED:

The Playground of Mischief
Honi Design - sorry babes - I know you've been tagged before
Lady Aimz Design

You guys are all my friends!!!

Shirt for my man

hey gang,

I've had a week off - and totally relaxed! Then I worked at the Splendour in the Grass Music Festival, saw some great bands and then back at work this week - It's TOO BUSY! There's just so much going on!

Nevertheless, here is my 'man' shirt:



I cuffed the sleeves after the photo was taken... but the cool thing is that I was VERY tight with fabric, as it was fabric my friend Sam picked out for a nice summer dress (she's holidaying in EUROPE as I type) and this man shirt was the leftovers! I'm pretty pleased with it, the collar has settled down since and I just am so proud of the pocket... it's the best I have EVER done... so simple but so easy to stuff up and get wonky...

Mr Veronica Darling wore it to Splendour on the Sunday and looked HOT with a vest over it when it got colder later on! And it got VERY VERY VERY COLD!

I made 2 dresses for myself but didn't get good pics of them! I was too busy working and taking photos of everyone else!

xoxo

Been sewing dresses

.... and not many photos to show for it! I gave them to Sam at work as soon as they were done! BUT, I'm starting to finish one tonight... so I'll take some piccies of that!

I'm soooooooo looking forward to a little week off next week, so will show you some great stuff soon!

xoxo

Check out the garden!

Mum gave us some bulbs around Easter time, and I totally planted them in different pots around the courtyard. We moved and they found new spots and they are growing and making me excited about SPRINGTIME!

I'm surprised that most are growing, as I used different depths and different spaces for them. Some haven't sprouted at all, so not sure if they are slow moving or whatevs!

Melting Plastic!

Just reading the Wardrobe Refashion site for ideas, and got very excited about this Placcy Bag Post!

Check out her bag:




I really want to make this!

Like Jayne and Solveig now that I'm an adult I really want to melt things like these knitting needles - yay for being in charge of the iron and the oven!

My only prob at the moment is that I have no plastic bags! Someone gave me some matieral in a DJs bag, but that's a bit daggy and an obvious pattern to melt!

xoxo

Looking for a Birthday Sewing Machine

Yep, it's my birfffday in August and my lovely husband suggested I look for a new sewing machine!!!! What a great idea!

I use a 1980 Janome that has an overlocker (broken and way too complicated to work out) but only use the straight stitch. I've been quite naughty and don't reinforce any of my edges (for instance the dress I made below is fraying at the seam edges on the inside, and I may have to think about fixing that soon) and when I use knit fabrics I just soldier on and pretend not to notice the puckering on my stitches! CAN YOU TELL I'M SELF TAUGHT AND LAZY?? Ha Ha Ha!

I met a patchworker this weekend and she showed me her Pfaff Machine, and because she does quilting wanted a machine that's needle stayed in the fabric (mine does this so didn't realise there was any other way) to move the fabric around with the needle still there to keep things together.

For my sewing I'd like that too, I'd like an overlocker and a straight stitch option - I'd like a button hole computer programmed thing - Monica the Patchworker had over a hundred different computer options! I don't know what I'd do with them, but I want them!

What machines are good do you think? I'm thinking $1000 max at the mo (cheaper would be better, but are the machines more divey?), and have started looking online! woo Yeah!

Choice has reviewed sewing machines just for people like me, and have decided that Janome and Bernina are good - approx $1000 and their tip is:

"Visit big craft shows in your area, or major state-based shows like the Royal Easter Show, as manufacturers often have excellent deals available at this time."

Oh!! Bec just went to a Craft show!

Wedding Fash

I'm so happy with my dress!



I have blogged below about part of the making, but the story goes: I'd bought the material from the Remnants Warehouse in Marrickville and it's kind of silky satin, and I've got this fabulous 60s dress pattern (I think was from a Sale Op Shop) that I hadn't made up yet... I did try to do it when I lived in Sale a few years back, but unfortunately as it was opshopped the instructions page was missing! Oh no! All the pattern pieces were there though, and so I thought I'd give it a go a few weeks back.

ANDDDDD it's sooooooo good! I adjusted the skirt darts (I was a bit fatty in the guts) and took in the blouse bit as it was a lot more baggy than above. Also I made the zip just on the skirt (and used a shorter zip) as when the zip was in the blouse it stuck out funny on the side. That was the trickiest bit as I wasn't sure how it went, and also I top stitched the bodice because I wasn't sure either. It's hard without the instructions, but am so pleased I'm experienced enough at sewing now to make this without them!

I made the wrap from woolie material from another fabric shop on Marrickville road - $6 for half a metre and lined it with satin, it turned out great but I was intrigued with how the two materials moved and went a bit wonky when I stitched them together.

My husband made me pose for this shot and as I was a bit tipsy with wedding fever I thought I looked fantastic! He also priced this look at $180 but all up it's under $20 - oh the stockings would make the outfit $30, beg your pardon, they were added as the wedding was at 7am on Saturday (7/7/07) and a little chilly even though it was on the northern NSW beachside.

xoxo

What to do with pillowcases

hey there,

just been mucking around on facebook and looking for clinique makeup deals as I realised I have no make up left, and have a wedding to go to on the weekend! It's late night shopping today, so I'll be able to make it to the department stores.

but if you have pillowcases you can make cute drawstring skirts! This tutorial on Leah Kramer's site (I'll have to put a link up) is really gorgeously spelled out for dumbos like me, and I have a few pillowcases in my stash so this could be a few summer skirts for me!

xoxo

Cheeky Beeky Badges

I've gone mental with badges/brooches/whatevs!

Here's a small example:



I'm about to upload some on etsy while I'm watching my crime shows! Yay Hooray! I'm not too sure my stuff is that good on etsy, but really want to hang in there and give it a red hot go. I have some great material that would suit some obi belts too, so perhaps I just need to update some of the stuff! I have also finished a great summer halter dress, kind of apron-like, but I'll put it on Diana and take a photo for you bloggy.

Sam from work loves it, so I'll make up the dress with her fabric as planned, and take some piccies of that too.

I'm so random today! Also, instead of a shrug I got some really interesting woolie material and made a massive wrap. I lined it with normal black lining (will be taking loads of pics at the wedding this Saturday, so will have some nice ones to show my lovely dress!) and when I lined it I sewed it woolie material side up on the machine, and ANYWAYS the two materials didn't want to work together, like the shiny lining went with the machine and the woolie one followed more slowly. However, I switched to the lining being on top, and then the two fabrics moved and joined together smoothly... does this make ANY SENSE? I just wanted to know why this happens (even thought I pin the material really carefully)... What's the dealio???

xoxox

Looking for shrug patterns

So I've made my dress for the wedding (gotta fix the zipper and then it's cool), but I've heard the weather in northern NSW is not so warm, and as the wedding is first thing in the morning, I'm just browsing now for fake fur shrugs:

A bit dapper and maybe too long in the sleeves

Prom Shrugs

Reconstructed shrug

xoxo gotta go to work

New tops, new dress and new ideas

I haven't blogged for a bit as it got really cold and busy at work, but I've made 2 new tops from cheap cotton material, one for me and one for my friend at work.

AND I've practically finished a dress to wear to my friends' wedding in July! Very pleased with it so far, it's a little fetching around the hip area as it's a pencil skirt with a flowy bodice, as soon as I've done the zip I'll post pics. I got the material from Marrickville, in the little shop near Sydnaham (sp?) railway station. They have the ends of material still on the cardboard roll - what is that called? Reams? Or ends of prints? I don't know, but I'll post tomorrow as I plan to finish the zipper then!

I've also signed up to Style Mob after checking out... I think it was Cheap Opulence's blog! Thanks babes!

I love it, while most people are overseas, I'm helping Aussie girls get their fash online there!

Other than that, I've sold most of those Cheeky badges below to friends at work! So pleased! And am getting a commission to make 2 halterneck dresses for Sam who's heading to Europe soon and getting some sun!

Yay! xoxo

Understanding where your vintage fash comes from

Mucking on the internerd as ussssual, I've found another vintage fash site through my myspace called the Vintage Fashion Guild, and I just checked out their site and there's a great list of info on labels!

They call it the
Lable Resource and it seems to be quite USA based, but the info is so good - with pics too! I love the old labels in some of my jackets - just checked two of them - Cumquat makes my blue leather cropped jacket, and Jolly Dee makes my Mum's old military style jacket - and they aren't listed, maybe because they are Australian!

Anyways, carry on!

OMG - what a great idea!

I just found Bits And Bobbins and what a beautiful mecca of ideas for fash!

As a frequent street style lover (although I do find Sydney rather drab at times) this page is not only a great blog, but has pointed me to a great group called Wardrobe Remix and I signed up straight away!

Thank you Bits and Bobbins!

I remember the first instance of photo fashion, and it was in Japan! I'll have to find the pics somewhere and scan them in... but the story goes as follows:

Year 10 school trip to Japan, a bunch of us going to a rollercoaster slash waterworld theme park and Japanese girls wanting to take photos of us with them to capture our fashion sense. They loved foreigners, they loved fashion and all those years ago, I just adored Japan and street fash. I can't even remember how many photos these Japanese girls took of us, but I was wearing these weird tan flowy callot type trousers and a beige (ick - what was I thinking on both counts!) tank top - but I got attention and I didn't even look that great. BUT, Japanese girls loved the combo at the time! I was 16 and didn't even accessorise (sp?) properly!!!

It was Nagashima Spa Land and still holds a special place in my heart as I love theme parks (most of you who know me well, will understand why I spent my honeymoon on the Gold Coast!). I even wrote poems about this theme park for English and based a Japanese Class Essay around the subject.

There's my little background story to street fash, and I adore this Wardrobe Remix as such!

xoxoxo yay for whatevs street fash!

What are these things called do you reckon?

I made some stuff (as per usual), but while I was a little sickie on Sunday (or was it Monday? can't remember as my brain stopped functioning!) and now I need a name for them. If a girl at work likes them I'll call them Cheeky Badges - but if she doesn't I'll have to think up another one!

My Brownie Pins are named after a friend!



And here are the badge things:




I've seen other badges, kind of the same ones on Craftster and some people call them yo yos - but these ones are kind of built up ones for your blazer or jacket or tshirt... not really a yo yo - so I'm a little stuck with names for them at the moment!

xoxox

Burda Style - Free Patterns

I know I shouldn't be getting tired of my massive box of patterns, there's heaps of things I haven't made yet....

BUT, I found NikkiShell posting about Burda Style, and read this news story about the creators!

I have joined up and am yet to make anything, but I just can't get enough of new patterns!!! I'm at home today, a little sickie, but don't really have the energy to make something - but I've got two events coming up (Hen's Party & Wedding on the Beach) that I need 2 new things for. I'm still waiting for the Wardrobe Refashion invite, but still pretending I'm on board - so no new things!

This dress is nice:



But not sure how it'll look over my chest!, I might look like a tank!

Australia

Hopefully you've heard The Shins track "Australia" by now. It's got a really great film clip I saw on jtv today. BUT, the real main reason for my post is the D.U.S.T blog, as it features my friends Anna Laura and Inaluxe.

It's a pretty cool blog about all things beaut in Australia, and posts about cool things that Australian peeps are doing art wise and craft wise. Anna Laura has been a great inspiration for me online, she's helped me out greatly with etsy stuff and pics and has some gorgeous work for you to check out. Whilst Inaluxe has been so gorgeous with tips on dressmaking and etsy stuff in general!

I went to high school with Anna Laura, and recently found Inaluxe through etsy - so really pleased to see them rating on the DUST myspace & blog! (AND Anna Laura - just read about you ON INALUXE's blog - woo hoo!)

Yay for really creative arts type peeps online! I feel sooooo inspired by their work, but I know I'm not really arty - just super sewing keen - in comparison. But most of all, YAY for Australian peeps doing so well on etsy and the like!

xoxo

Quickie Badges

My fave customer put in an order for her sister, I made some quick belts yesterday and a little Brownie Hair Clip for her as well, but I quickly made these little badges for her as a present!



Hope she likes them!

I haven't heard about the Wardrobe Refashion, but I'm assuming I'm on board, so today is the first day of no new clothes! My friend Sarah wants to go shopping for shoes tomorrow! I am so 'high and mighty' going shopping these days anyways, so I bet I'll be fine. I'm all 'HnM' because I look at clothes and can't believe the price! (Esp. in Sydders! Ridic!)

Off to work now!

Getting ready for the Pledge

I'm pretty sure I'm in the June 6 month batch of the greatest idea ever invented - I mailed Nikki Shell about the Wardrobe Refashion and here am I getting ready for it!

I'm pretty sure most of you peeps know what it is (crafty friends), but I'm imagining here that everyone is reading about my adventures (young, old, etc) and I'm very inclusive in my job and do a lot of 'resetting' (another re word - and one of my faves in everyday life). SO!!! The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge is taken by people committed to NOT buying new clothes, and refashioning old clothes & making new clothes.

Now, I'm pretty into this already. I haven't bought anything 'swanky' for ages and I hate paying over $50 for clothes when I feel I can give it a go myself for much cheaper. And then there's the recycling part of it. I have been going to oppies since I was 12 and into bargains (I rather like the Americans and their 'thrift' stores as opposed to Op Shops - but you can never not say OPPY can you?), AND now making stuff for almost 5 years - I calculated it from a very EARLY blog! 2001 was the year I got bored, and perhaps by the end of that I got handy with the sewing machine.

But, I've never been that good until recently! Here is another top I made on the weekend! The material is from an Op Shop in Gippsland - most likely Bairnsdale. And is a pattern - I'll add it later! It was pretty easy!






Can you tell which pic is the myspace angle?

Night!

Obi Won Fabric?

These all can be obi won belt sashes!

xoxox

You Forgot To Iron Your Shirt

I wore this to work today, and most people didn't realise it was a made shirt - even when I pointed out the oddly coloured stitching on the button holes and the drunken like staggering stitching around the hem!

From afar it looks normal to people and that's fine by me! I think I look a little matronly and buxom - and the cute front necktie (detachable) puffs it out even more! BUT, I like it nonetheless and with a big black belt and a pencil skirt I reckon it's sassy librarian chic.





Not bad straight on - and check the big hair guys, that's the Brigitte look on me!




Not sure what made the fabric poke out the side there - but that's not an extra boob



Now I'm just watching my crime shows (see from above couch pic). I have cable, yes because I'm a media junkie, and because my husband loves music video clips. AND, I love forensic investigation (my second career will happen one day) and on Mondays they have Lisa McCune present a really long Aussie version - see her 'on location':



Wow, she's so serious, especially with that 'serious' straight hair.

I have stacks more green crinkly material, so can make a blouse for you - size 8-10 maybe even a nice tightly fitted 12 I reckon. BUT, can't promise you nice stitching! Gotta try the nasty overlocker!

xoxo

Great recycling

Another post about my re words and I found this chicka - she's got some great twist with recycled things and lovely found fashion pics!

Today I sewed half of my green top - the front and back bits of the shirt have great darts that aren't really darts - the pattern calls them tucks and they look alright so far - I've done the collar and it doesn't look tooooooo dorky! My big thing used to be dorky unbalanced collars, but I seem to have sorted that out in recent creations! See my husband's green floral shirt from a previous post - I can do them ok!

My biggest worry with this shirt is the machine, the cotton is kind of stretch knit only slightly, and the machine tension is all over the shop - I've tried heaps of combinations on the machine and can't get the stitch balanced, but whatevs - it works and it's on the inside anyways! I wanna wear this shirt tomorrow, but don't think I'll get the sleeves done in time for work tomorrow!

I chatted to this lovely designer in a convo on etsy about making dresses and agreed with her that if you make a whole bunch of stuff you get bored with the same thing. I've got my belts and my clips online, and wanna try dresses or tunics with some of my vintage fabric, so may set out to do a new bunch when things settle down. It's always so busy!

I heart the 're' words

Hi again,

I'm finding a lot of new friends in the online crafty community and thanks to Bec who commented the other day - great site and based in Sydney too!

Here are all the words starting with 're' that I love so far:

recycle
refashioned
recreated
renovated
reimagined
reused
restyled

What are other great ones that sum up the great eco-friendly world of fashion? I'm sure there's more!

I have set up the sewing centre after the easiest move in the world (different apartment, same apartment block) and have cut out the pieces for a light shirt. Green cotton stuff that I got on sale the other day, only $1.50 a metre down from $9 a metre. I'll be using recycled buttons and will post once it's done! Hopefully tomorrow morning and I'm itching to wear something new!

Twin Peaks Girl

I've just been esty browsing (again) and found Art and Ghosts and her blog!

She was recently tagged (as I was too by Anna Laura but I don't have enough blogger friends yet) and listed all these things about herself! So many of them sounded like me! Geeky! She lives in Manchester and creates photo montages. Very childish bedroom memory-like and hence the Twin Peaks feel, she even noted that one pic is very Laura Palmer. She even lists Jan Svankmajer's 'Alice' as one of her fave films, and I keep remembering his work from time to time - I might have to see if they are on dvd yet.

There are a plethora of things I loved that have missed the internet retro-cyle. Things like Monkey Magic (and sound grabs) were online once it all began, but things like Sean's Show (Sean Hughes) has never even had an online ether presence. It'll have to live on in my head...

Melting Vinyl & Refashioning

Hey!

The husband will kill me if found me googling for this, but I've found a site that helps you melt vinyl and it got me thinking about melting plastics in general! We do have an awfully lot of vinyl in our house that isn't played, but what about records at the op shop? the many many dean martin ones... or the scratched ones? I wonder what could be made from them?

Also I found a new blogger in WA (well new to me!) who is part of the Wardrobe Refashion and I'm really really really interested in doing the same! Since I don't really shop for new things anyways, it'll be kinda easy, but imagine about saving doshola! The husband won't kill me over that one!

Still haven't got the sewing machine up and running, bloody big boxes in front of my table! I'm home alone tomorrow night, so will get into it for sure!

xoxo

I'm so happy

I have sold things on my online stores! My Etsy store is going along slowly slowly with a few things out the door already, and My Mintd has had a sale too! Thanks to my lovely friend Alicia who started off that store.

BUT, with moving house my internerd has been down, and today we just remembered that we could use dial up! And it's soooooo slow! What a net snob I am these days! I haven't been able to update my blog and do anything in my sewing corner (there's still a few boxes left over from the move).

Anyways! The hairdresser was great - Sue is a babe! And I got 2 wolf whistles after leaving the hair salon so I totally scream bombshell Brigitte Bardot lookalike. Hopefully that's what wolfwhistles mean these days, and no I did not check out who made the whistles as that is something you never do. (ala Lakes Entrance 1996)

See you round! Hopefully after my sewing stuff is set up ready to go.

Moving Day

We've been moving apartments today!

I'm having a quick break and then off to get pastries for us! But it's going ok, we're actually only moving apartments in the same apartment block! It's just a lot of back and forth and I think some neighbours are annoyed with my wheeling stuff around as it makes a lot of noise on the outside tiles!

You should see my sewing table, I won't be setting it up for a while that's for sure! Boxes galore!

One crafty point - One hair point

Okay! I'm going to the hairdressers today and have included these photos as inspiration!


















I'll talk to Sue and Eliza about my fringe (non existant today) as I feel like I want big hair but with a fringe! I look EXACTLY like Brigitte btw.

On the crafty point today:

I have started a beanie cap thing for my huzbie and have been using a combination of the following pages to keep up with it all:

My Crochet Stuff - the actual pattern and cool chrochet person - crochet is so hard I have problems spelling it even! I might put a permanent link from my blog on this one!

How to do tricky things - this page has some weird sketches on how to do front post and back post, as the pattern above says you need to do it, but I have no idea what it means and will just keep on doing hdc (half double crochet) stitches all the way round this circle:



Another Crafty Me Page - This is also really helpful, on this site is where I learned to do the perfect circle thing that starts off the crochet - cute!

Ok, better get to work!